The squeaking of breaks pierces through the air. Then, comes the crash of two metal forces barreling into one another. The spiral in either direction, car parts and glass flying in all directions. The sirens can soon be heard throughout the night, as another drunk driving incident occurs in America. The consumption of alcohol has become way too normalized in recent years, causing the number of alcohol related injuries, specifically in young adults below the age of 21, to increase significantly. Young adults below the age of 21 are still managing to get their hands on alcohol from their older friends or family members.  Some of these teens are even using fake ID’s to buy it themselves. Imagine if the legal drinking age was lowered to 18. Not only would young adults be able to purchase liquor now, but they are able to expose it to an even younger generation of people, such as younger siblings who may be in elementary school. There are people advocating for the drinking age to be lowered to 18 because they believe that doing this will create a safer country by decreasing the amount of accidents created by alcohol, but they are wrong. Changing the law so that alcohol will be available legally to 18 year olds will do much more bad than good. By lowering the drinking age to 18, there will not only be a rise in alcohol related injuries and fatalities, but will also increase the chance of those who begin drinking at a younger age to become more susceptible to substance abuse problems in their futures, as well as allowing individuals of an even younger age to begin an abusive relationship with alcohol. 

Alcohol plays a large role in traffic incidents causing severe injuries and fatalities. They are the leading cause of death for young American people between the ages of 16 and 24. Over 50% of all highway crashes that result in death and involve two or more cars are alcohol related, as well as about 65% of all fatal single car crashes (FADD). However, these traffic fatalities are most common among newly legal drinkers. Lowering the drinking age would ultimately have no effect on this statistic of alcohol related traffic fatalities, but would increase the number of deaths of the younger age group. That is more lives being taken too soon all because young adults want to drink. Raising the national minimum drinking age to 21 has saved many lives, literally.  In fact, “it is estimated that since the law was changed, around 900 lives have been saved yearly on the road” (Wechsler). Looking to other countries around the world, there are fewer alcohol related traffic accidents in countries whose minimum drinking age is 18. This may be attributed to kids learning at a younger age how to drink more responsibly and be taught by parents or guardians. In the United States however, it would take many years before this statistic became true, if ever. With a lower drinking age, 18 year olds would not know how to responsibly drink and handle their alcohol because they have never been taught. This would inevitably amount to a large increase in traffic fatalities among other injuries that are all alcohol related. Also, since they have yet to learn how to responsibly handle alcohol and know their own personal drinking limit, the number of hospitalizations due to alcohol poisoning would increase for those at this newly legal age. 

Although the number of reported underage drinking has declined, those who have admitted to drinking underage are doing it behind closed doors, leading to them binge drinking (FADD). Binge drinking is the consumption of an excess amount of alcohol in a very short time period. High school and college underage students are the most susceptible to binge drinking. Since they are not allowed to legally drink in public yet, most turn to drinking behind closed doors, unsupervised. Friends may be peer pressuring them to binge drink much more than their body can handle, creating a situation that can turn extremely dangerous, even deadly. In 2004, a freshman student at the University of Boulder passed away from alcohol poisoning. In a 60 Minutes episode, the boy’s mother and father discussed how their son died after a night of drinking with his fraternity brothers. The boys were all pressuring him to drink, and he ended up overdrinking and got alcohol poisoning (60 Minutes). No one had even called for help, they just put the young freshman on the couch and left him there. Binge drinking at any age is an extremely dangerous event to practice, but especially for those who are far from being 21. The human body is not equipped to handle extensive drinking in a short period of time, which is why there are so many instances of college and high school students being hospitalized for alcohol poisoning, simply because they are trying to impress their friends and out drink them. If the US were to lower the drinking age to 18, the death toll for young adults would increase significantly because they are now able to get their hands on alcohol legally. 

Drinking alcohol is seen by many young adults as the “cool” thing to be doing. There is an appeal to them to be able to drink because of how the media portrays it to be. Celebrities are pictured going to clubs and bars and other events, and drinking fun-looking drinks. This is attractive to young adults, and that feeling is attempted to be mimicked in a basement or a field with no parents around, drinking cheap liquor from a red plastic cup. A majority of this age group has never been taught how to drink responsibly. Many adults do not deem it necessary because they are not yet of the legal age, so why would they need to know how? The United States should first implement programs in middle school and high schools of the dangers of drinking and how alcohol really effects the body before even beginning ot think about lowering the drinking age. . Being taught at a younger age how to responsibly drink with and around others would ultimately result in the lowering of alcohol related incidents. Individuals can also learn that alcohol should not be used as an escape method or a way to feel more confident. Many teenagers are drinking to impress someone they like and feel more confident about themselves, but that should not be a reason to drink.  

Consumption of alcohol before the current legal age of 21is not only dangerous to those who are consuming it, but also to everyone else. Advocates for those who want to lower the drinking age are not seeing how this change would affect the younger generation. If seniors in high school or freshman in college are now able to legally purchase and poses alcohol, they would be able to expose it to their younger siblings and friends who are not yet of age.  As of right now, many of the high schoolers are receiving their alcohol from their parents’ liquor cabinets, or getting it from a 21-year-old friend or sibling.. This will impact their development in the future. The brain does not finish developing until a person is in their mid-20’s, so exposing the brain to this toxin will have many repercussions. One part of the brain that alcohol effects is the hippocampus. The hippocampus is responsible for memory.  This can lead to people “blacking out”, or forgetting events from their previous night of drinking when they are under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol also effects the neurotransmitters of the brain. Neurotransmitters are the chemical messengers which send signals to parts of the body that control behavior, emotion, and thought process. More specifically, alcohol increases the effect of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, gamma-amino butyric acid (Watson, Stephanie). Effecting the GABA causes sluggish movements and slurred speech, which is dually noted when observing someone who is under the influence of alcohol. “Long Term drinking can leave permanent damage, causing the brain to shrink and leading to deficiencies in the fibers that carry information between brain cells” (Watson). If a substance causes the brain to potentially shrink from too much exposure, beginning that exposure at a young age will not benefit that individual in anyway. Alcohol also impacts ones’ prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for controlling coordination and logical thinking. When people begin to drink before their brains have been fully developed, these areas of the brain can be impacted forever, and can lead to serious problems in their futures. 

The trickle-down effect is a big factor to consider when discussing the potential lowering of the drinking age. It can apply to many things, but one major area it applies to is where and how younger children get ideas.  If a middle school aged boy has an older sister in college who goes out and drinks with friends and posts about it on social media, he will see that and be influenced by her actions. If he sees that she is enjoying herself and having a good time, he will think that drinking is an enjoyable activity and will want to drink as well. If the drinking age were brought down to 18, there would be great harm that follows with the younger generations. No longer will the college student have to buy alcohol for the high schooler, but the high schooler will now be legal drink, and be influencing their younger siblings in middle school to want to drink as well. If kids at such a young age are beginning their relationship with alcohol, more harm will be done than good. According to a study conducted by a team of psychiatrists, 54% of people who are currently or were at some point in their lives alcohol dependent, or alcoholics, began drinking before the age of 14 (Hinson, Heeren, Winter). Looking at those who began drinking prior to age 14 versus age 21, 47% of those who were under the age of 14 experienced lifetime dependence, compared to 9% who were of the legal drinking age when they began drinking (Hinson, Heeren, Winter). These alcohol and drug related dependencies are directly correlated to the age at which the abuser began their relationship with alcohol. Decreasing the minimum drinking age to 18 will increase the likelihood of children of a younger age to become alcohol dependent in their future, since they will now potentially have easy access to this substance.  

Many advocates for lowering the drinking age see that 18 year olds are already adults, so why would they not be able to drink? They are able to vote, drive a car, and fight for our country, but they are unable to have a beer. Lowering the legal drinking age will give these 18-year-olds a better sense of maturity, but also give them more responsibilities, some of which they may not be ready for. Every year alcohol plays a role in the amount of unplanned pregnancies that occur. About 45% of all pregnancies are unplanned, and 14% of those can be attributed to being under the influence of alcohol (Ranocha). Almost ¾ of those pregnancies will be aborted, due to the age at which the woman became pregnant; the most common age being 16-20 (Ranocha). By decreasing the drinking age to 18, this number of alcohol related unplanned pregnancies will increase since this age group is now able to get their hands on alcohol legally. When a young couple becomes pregnant and does not want the child, they do have options. If they do not choose to abort the baby, they can either keep it or give the child up for adoption. Either way the population is going to increase if they decide to have the child. There is already a world population epidemic going on, without the US lowering the drinking age. The population is expanding every day, and in a few hundred years the earth will no longer be able to support all of the people living on it.  Decreasing the drinking age to 18 is going to add to this problem, and potentially cause the population epidemic to grow at an even faster rate than it is right now.

This growing population can also potentially be a more violent one. According to one study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, “alcohol is associated with an increased risk of hazardous sexual behavior, academic failure, drug abuse, and alterations to the structure and function of the brain” (M. Nagin). “Up to 86% of homicide offenders, 37% of assault offenders, and 60% of sexual offender were using alcohol at the time of the crime” (M. Nagin). Although these statistics do not specifically talk about people under the legal drinking age, keeping 21 as the minimum drinking age would decrease the number of these violent acts performed by young adults compared to full grown adults. Alcohol is also seen as the most common date rape drug. A study in Ireland found that 75% of male college students used alcohol intentionally to get a female intoxicated and take advantage of her (M. Nagir). Lowering the drinking age to 18 would only increase these violent and scary acts performed by people under the age of 21. 

The late teenage years and early twenties are formative years for everyone. A person is being influenced by all sorts of media and different people, and must make some big decisions in their lives including college or a career. Throwing alcohol into that mix will not lead to a good outcome. “Character building, leadership in the community, and scholastic excellence should be emphasized, and alcohol detracts from all of these. Because minors are prone to drunk driving, binge drinking, and violent and/or destructive behaviors it makes sense to continue to legally discourage their consumption of alcohol” (M. Nagin). If 18 year olds are able to legally get their hands on a bottle of alcohol, they may turn to that bottle to solve their problems. It is proven that humans are more likely to drink under stressful situations, so in this time of such stress, it is almost as dangerous as putting a gun in their hands. 

Alcohol consumption by minors is a very serious public health problem in the United States. Alcohol is seen as the most widely used and abused substance among America’s youth. Lowering the drinking age will lead to potential health and safety risks for them in the future, including performing more violent acts while under the influence, increasing the number of unplanned pregnancies, allowing children of an early age to begin drinking, and potential substance abuse issues in the future, among others. Underage drinking has an effect on everyone, not just those teenagers participating in it. This is a nationwide problem that needs to be addressed. If the drinking age were to be changed to 18, there will be much more harm done in our country than good.   
